


Shiroiwa's Happy Halloween 2020

by keitaiijima



Series: Junior High Moments [12]
Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27138679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keitaiijima/pseuds/keitaiijima
Summary: It's the week leading up to Halloween weekend and the kids have mixed feelings about the holiday. Some are busy planning parties or spooky pranks, but other weird things start to happen as well.Rated Teens + for language with certain characters.Note: This is part of a non-linear series all set in the same universe but can also be definitely read independently.
Series: Junior High Moments [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059632
Comments: 15
Kudos: 4





	1. Mixed feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Izumi isn't vibing with this, Keita gets a strange note, Ryuhei just wants to drink, basically.

Izumi hated Halloween.

Alright, _hate_ might be too strong of a word. But she sure did very strongly dislike it. She preferred cute and fluffy things to scary and disgusting ones. And unfortunately for her, one of her best friends were none other than Yuka Nakagawa; self-proclaimed Queen of Halloween (a title she had proudly patented, at least amongst their friend group, where no one else were desperate for that title anyway).

Every year, Yuka insisted on making a big deal out of the holiday. The older they got, the spookier it got too; what had innocently started when they were younger with maybe hiding a fake spider in Izumi’s pencil case, had developed into dressing up as such a realistic looking zombie that previous year, it had made Izumi burst into tears when she jumped out in front of her on her walk home from Ikebana and threatened to eat her.

Izumi wasn’t sure what she could expect this year, but she knew she already started dreading it the week leading up to the day itself. Halloween happened to fall upon a Saturday this year, and Yuka could not be more thrilled.   
  


“That means we can have a proper fun sleepover! And marathon scary movies all night long!” she beamed at them that Monday during lunch break. Yuka had of course started planning the party several weeks ago, more specifically plan what kind of scary look she could have, what movies they could watch, and what kind of snacks they would munch on. Now she figured it was probably time for her friends to become equally invested.

“How about… We watch one scary movie and then maybe something light, to make it easier to sleep afterwards?” Noriko suggested quietly, and Izumi could feel her friend’s eyes linger at her in particular. Well, her and Chisato, probably. They were known to be the two least enthusiastic about the yearly Yuka Halloween Party, with perhaps the inclusion of Noriko herself.   
“Something _light?_ No, no, no, Miss Second-Cutest Nakagawa,” Yuka teased her light-heartedly. “This is my one night! We can watch something light closer to Christmas or like… White Day when we have to be each other’s dates again, or something. But at Halloween, we go all out!”  
  
Izumi bit her bottom lip gently. Really, it was the same every year. As much as she dreaded it, and prayed Yuka wouldn’t make good on last year’s promise of borrowing real-life spiders from the exotic pet store in town, she knew there was no avoiding it.  
“Thank you for fighting for the cause of us weaklings,” Izumi told Noriko with a soft smile. “But you know how this will end –“  
“- In tears and nightmares and horrible trauma!” Chisato joked dramatically, while shaking her head. “Like every year!”  
“Lighten up! One day you will thank me for preparing you for the Zombie Apocalypse for so many years,” Yuka hummed, giving them a quick wink.

“That is highly unrealistic. In fact, I can guarantee you that won’t ever happen,” Satomi interjected, frowning. “There’s no point in scaring them with these supernatural scenarios that have a zero percent chance of occurring.”  
Yuka thought for a second, tapping her chin with a finger. “Okayyy. If they ever get kidnapped and put into elaborate traps where they have to endure physical and/or psychological torture in order to escape and earn back their freedom, they’ll be prepared for that too! Better?”  
“Better,” Satomi nodded nonchalantly, as Izumi could feel Chisato give her arm a tight squeeze under the table.

“Lovely!” Yukie agreed, smiling brightly as she easily ignored the expression on her three lesser brave friends’ faces. She was always ready to plan an event, no matter what it was. “I assume you got food and drinks covered too, Yuka?”  
“Well, of course. That was top priority on my list!” Yuka grinned, snapping her fingers. “We’re going with _finger food_ this time. Little baby sausages with ketchup, looking like chopped off fingers on sticks. Delicious, right?!”

Izumi swallowed.  
“Oh… Yum…” she managed to reply, forcing a stiff smile. She made a note to eat something before she arrived, as she doubted she could stomach a lot of Yuka’s servings of severed fingers. At least there were only about five months left until White Day.

* * *

Keita loved Halloween.

He was typically full of creative ideas on how to scare his friends, though sadly, his execution was not always on point. It was Tuesday now, and Keita had started his pranks that previous day, placing a whoopee cushion on a random chair in the classroom. It had turned out to be Megumi’s, and she had burst into tears when several people laughed at her as she sat down on it. Keita had pointed and laughed too, pleased that he was off to such a good start.

During their break, Hiroki had reminded him he might be mixing up Halloween with April’s Fools, and that there was not really anything _scary_ about farting.  
“You’ve clearly not been around Nobu after eating cheese!” Keita countered with a laugh, causing Yoshitoki to pout and deny it all.

Of course, Hiroki had made a good point. Keita did need to up his game a little this year. He had already tried to capture spiders out in his garden, thinking it would be fun to send in an army of them into the girl’s locker rooms, but sadly, he was too afraid himself, and had screamed and panicked when one accidentally crawled on him. So that had been an instant fail.

He had a small stack of fake blood and vampire teeth hidden in his backpack, wondering if he could fool one of the guys into thinking he was a real vampire. Shuya would probably be his best bet. Even if he didn’t _actually_ believe him, Shuya was the kind of guy who would pretend to, just to let Keita have his fun. But then, was that the kind of pity scare something which would really make him happy?

After some debate with himself, Keita decided that _yes_ , he would take pity over nothing. He just needed to lure Shuya into a dark corner by himself and get the job done. It would have to be after next class though, as everyone were already scrambling their things together to head to History class.

“Oh, man! I left my book in the locker!” Keita groaned, after a quick search of his backpack. It had felt way too light, with only his props and notebook in. “Guys, wait up for me, ‘kay? I’ll run get it!”   
He laughed nervously, not wanting to be the only one to enter the classroom late on his own.  
“Oh, sure, man,” Shinji replied with a wave, though instantly turned around to head towards the classroom the second Keita ran off into the other direction.   
The rest of the boys sent each other awkward glances, unsure what to do.

Keita was quick to reach his locker around the corner of the hallway, trying to catch everything from falling out the second he opened it. Maybe one day he would bother to organize it. An old sandwich did reveal itself in the landslide though, which he was happy to pick up. He could just scrape the mould off, after all. However, Keita spotted something else as well just as he had grabbed the right book and was about to close his locker. It was a small, white piece of paper. It wasn’t folded or anything, and seemed to have been slid right into the crack of the door, now finding itself stuck between an old Gameboy game and a book which he should have probably returned last year.

Curious, Keita wedged the note out, holding it up in front of him. It was pretty short and straight to the point, written with… Red ink?  
The simple message read: “I know what you did. Confess.”  
Frowning, Keita stared at it for a moment. What he did? What did he do? His mind racing, he couldn’t really seem to think of anything. Well, nothing which would warrant such an ominous message, at least.   
_Is this about me not returning Hiroki’s pen to him? Or the fact that I stole Yutaka’s joke and claimed I made it up? Or when I drew on Nobu’s face when he fell asleep last guy’s night? The riot I started at the alpaca farm? Or, damn, is it when I stole the last slice of pizza and blamed it on Shuya…_

Looking around, Keita tried to see if he could spot anyone. But the hallway seemed more abandoned than he had ever seen it before. Feeling slightly nervous, he crumpled up the note and shoved it into his pocket, thinking maybe he could forget about it.

* * *

Ryuhei thought Halloween was okay. Any chance to get drunk and watch bloody or gory shit was pretty cool, he had to admit. What _wasn’t_ cool, was when Hiroshi always tried to make it into some costume party (even less cool when he insisted they should go trick or treating. No one except Ryuhei had showed up to that last year, and he and Hiroshi had just been chased from every household on account of being “too old”). This year Hiroshi had his heart set on dressing up as different types of “scary fruit”.

“The fuck does that even mean?” Ryuhei groaned. There were still five days left until the actual evening of Halloween, yet Hiroshi seemed insistent on locking a theme down right now.   
“Like, I dunno. A rottin’ banana. Half-eaten apple. Pears are sorta freaky already,” Hiroshi tried to explain, chewing on his second egg salad of the day. Ryuhei thought it was weird he hadn’t suggested an egg theme yet.

“We ain’t doin’ the dress-up shit, Hiro,” Mitsuru sighed, probably finding it unbelievable they kept having this discussion every damn year. “Remember last year? Everyone thought ya ‘n Ryu came to their houses to rob them! That one old woman called the cops, didn’t she?”  
“Yeah…” Hiroshi mumbled, before perking up. “But that one house _we_ did rob, didn’t even suspect a fuckin’ thing!”

“Ryuhei stealing a garden gnome and running is _not_ a robbery,” Sho snickered.   
“’Ey, it counts. I’m proud of that trophy,” Ryuhei cut in, crossing his arms. “But I ain’t doin’ the door to door thing ‘gain. I don’t wanna waste my time bein’ busted for not even doin’ shit wrong.”   
Hiroshi finished swallowing the last piece of his sandwich and licked his fingers to soak up every last flavour.  
“Yeah, so I was gonna say, we can just chill at Zuki’s this year, right? Get wasted, watch scary stuff, maybe go hang outside when it gets dark -  
“- That don’t sound too bad, y’know,” Mitsuru agreed, nodding.  
“- Dressed as scary fruit!” Hiroshi finishe, causing Mitsuru to groan and slam his head against the table.  
“No, fuck. Ya ruined it!”

Kazuo, who had been quietly observing the group like he so often did, spoke up.  
“I’ve read about Halloween. It seems it dates back to an old Celtic festival, relating to how the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred on the last night of the year. I do not understand how it has gotten to the point of scary fruit.”  
“It hasn’t!” Mitsuru argued, frowning lightly. “’Cause we ain’t doin’ scary fruit!”  
  
“Does anyone find fruit scary? Who determined what is “scary” and appropriate for this type of holiday? Fears can be very individual,” Kazuo continued in the same monotone voice. Ryuhei felt himself zone out a little, figuring only Mitsuru was really listening to this anyway.  
“What is _your_ worst fear?” he heard Kazuo ask the group, to which Sho laughed and replied that this seemed weirdly like some kind of trap.

It was always hard to read Kazuo’s expressions, but as they got up and slowly made their way to the classroom to finish up their day, Ryuhei thought he looked even more lost in his own mind than usual.  
 _If he shows up dressed as a scary orange on Saturday, I ain’t fuckin’ hangin’ out with this gang ‘nymore,_ he thought bitterly.


	2. The Where and the Who

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izumi is worried about a friend, Keita goes to confront whoever is writing him notes, and the KF might be in trouble.

Wednesday morning started off as it normally did. Izumi was barely awake through the first session of History class, but her energy perked up during their first recess when she and Noriko happily discussed what kind of cupcakes they would make for the Halloween party. Or rather, Noriko would make, and she would eat.

Yuka had decided that since last years theme was Zombies, this year she would keep it contained to Death Games. Izumi hoped that by saying that, she meant they would watch _movies_ focused on death games, and not that they would all be forced to fight to death in Yuka’s backyard. It could really go either way, with her in charge.

Izumi was relieved no one had managed to scare her yet, though. The only thing that had happened so far that day, was someone managing to rig a bucket with water over the door, waiting for an innocent victim to walk under it. The poor victim turned out to be Kaori, who spent the rest of the of the class soaked. Izumi had to whisper to Yuka and ask her if this water-trick was her idea, but Yuka only scoffed.  
  
“That’s the word of an amateur! It’s probably Iijima trying to be funny,” she quickly dismissed the accusation. Izumi had to agree, that did make sense, considering the whoopee cushion incident from the previous day. Was he confused about what Halloween was about?

Izumi did however notice that Satomi was acting a bit strange throughout the class. She seemed surprisingly… nervous. She was usually so composed and relaxed; even when stressing out about school, she managed to keep an icy demeanour. But now she was shifting slightly on her chair, fidgeting with her pen, her eyes darting around the room… She even seemed unable to focus on Hayashida, which definitely was unusual.

Izumi had become so fascinated by her movements; she had completely forgotten to pay attention too. She didn’t even turn around to glance at the back of the classroom, which she usually did to get a glimpse of a certain boy. Now her eyes were glued to Satomi.  
She expected Satomi’s weird behaviour to continue during their first recess, and she was kind of right. Satomi quickly excused herself, saying she needed to stay back to discuss something with Hayashida. Izumi was sceptical, but no one else seemed to find the girl’s behaviour odd, so she didn’t speak up about it.  
“Alright, Sato. See you next class!” Yukie had cheerfully waved her off, figuring they would see her in only fifteen minutes.

They didn’t.  
Izumi had briefly forgotten about Satomi seeming odd when distracted by the talk of cupcakes, but when they entered the classroom for their next subject, she was swiftly reminded of it. The girls entered the classroom right on time, having had a hard time walking down the hallway as Yuka told them horrible Halloween puns and causing them to burst into fits of laughter every step they took. Of course, Izumi expected Satomi to wait for them there. Maybe with her arms crossed and her brow raised slightly but with a smile on her face, shaking her head at them for cutting it so close.

Satomi’s desk was empty.  
Now, the other girls seemed to react too.  
“Huh, that’s unlike her…” Haruka mumbled, brushing past Izumi and Yuka as she and Yukie were seated a few rows behind them.  
Noriko and Chisato looked at each other, both looking puzzled.  
“Hayashida-sensei must be keeping her… Maybe it’s for some kind of extra credit?” Noriko whispered, coming up with the best explanation she could.

Izumi bit her lip, her eyes again glued to Satomi’s desk, though now focusing on nothing but the emptiness. Satomi didn’t show up five minutes late. Not ten minutes late, not twenty… By the end of the class, Satomi hadn’t showed up at all.

_Sato… Where on earth are you?_

Izumi and Yuka shared a look as they gathered their things, both probably thinking the same thing; they had to go talk to Hayashida, too.

* * *

Kaori’s shriek when the cold water hit her had made Keita giggle furiously into the back of his hand. Man, this class sure had to count on him to entertain them, didn’t they? He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around on his seat, happy to see it was Hiroki who had asked for his attention.  
 _Probably to praise my great pranking skills… Hah!  
_ “Dude, did you see that?!” Keita asked needlessly, a big grin on his face. “It could be like, a thing to save time in the morning! Just shower here in the classroom!”  
He laughed at his own joke, but Hiroki just smiled uncertainly to him.

“You should stop pranking the girls like this… I don’t think they like it,” he said slowly, not really meeting Keita’s eyes. It was as if speaking up about even something so obvious was difficult to him.  
Keita frowned.  
“Hey, I’m not targeting anyone in particular! So far it just happens to be girls… Who knows, maybe next time, it’s _you_?! It’s totally random, that’s the fun! No discrimination or anything!” he attempted to explain.  
Hiroki tapped his own nose, laughing shortly. “I hope it’s not me…”  
That seemed to be all he could conclude with, before class had started.

Hiroki’s comment had made Keita think a little, though. That almost never happened. But was something about his pranks skewed to affect girls more, without him even knowing it? So far he only had two victims, but he _did_ plan on doing the vampire prank on Shuya specifically, after all. Maybe he should do something to Shinji, too. He had a good sense of humour.  
 _I could exchange his condoms with balloons or something… That’d be sick! Imagine if he doesn’t even notice!_

Keita was laughing to himself, praising his own genius, as he opened his locker to get out his Language books. But then he froze.  
Right there, was another note. He immediately recognized the paper as the same one from the day before, and he felt his heart beat a little faster.  
Gently pulling it out, he stared down at the writing.  
 _Don’t be a coward. Meet me by the entrance next break._

Keita felt drops of sweat form at the back of his neck. Something about the tone of the messages really freaked him out. The idea that someone might be pranking him in return had struck him, but most of his friends were too lame to even think of that. Maybe Shinji or Yutaka, but it didn’t look like their writing.  
Again, he folded the note up and put it in his pocket, where it joined the other one from the day before.  
  
The next class seemed to pass so slowly. Keita noticed some of his classmates were absent and thought maybe it was because they were preparing to jump him later (it was hard to imagine Satomi doing something like that, but the entire Kiriyama Family had also disappeared despite being there for the morning class, and he didn’t see Shogo anywhere either). He was growing increasingly more anxious, wondering if he should ask Shinji or Hiroki to go with him to meet this anonymous person behind the note, just in case he needed some extra muscle. Or rather, any muscle.

When class ended, Shinji quickly ran off though, saying something about meeting a girl to arrange a date with her. Shuya had to go get some notes for a piece he was working at with the music club, and Hiroki disappeared with Takako.  
That left Keita with Yutaka and Yoshitoki. In other words, he was screwed.

“Wanna grab some sodas in the cafeteria? I could need the sugar,” Yoshitoki suggested as the three walked together. Yutaka nodded eagerly, while Keita was too distracted planning on how he could fight the whole Kiriyama Family and win. He knew Yutaka had urinated on some bullies once and that had worked out alright for about ten seconds, but he was also worried that the Kiriyama Family were the kind of people who would just be into that.

Before he could come up with any solid plan, he noticed he was now standing alone in the middle of the cafeteria. Yutaka and Yoshitoki had gone to get in line for their sodas. They had undoubtedly asked Keita if he was joining, but probably given up when he was so unresponsive.

 _It’s now or never,_ Keita figured, glancing towards the entrance to the school building. He was tempted to go with “never”, but his curiosity really wouldn’t forgive him for that. Instead, he took slow steps towards the door. He couldn’t really see anyone around, as most of the kids were either sat by the tables, waiting in line, or chilling outside of the classrooms for their next subjects.

The only person he noticed waiting by the door, with his arms folded and a neutral expression on his face, was…  
“Shinji?” Keita asked, frowning uncertainly.  
Shinji raised a delicate eyebrow, and Keita couldn’t decide if he looked surprised to see him or not.  
“Hey.”

* * *

The Kiriyama Family would typically leave the school building every break during the day, to have a quick cigarette break. The first break of the day was no different, and the four of them were relaxing on the benches at the back of the school. Kazuo hadn’t showed up yet that day, which was typical. He tended to come and go as he pleased, so they never knew when to expect him or not.   
Sometimes it was almost a relief to Ryuhei when he wasn’t around, since making conversation with him could be kind of awkward. Not that he’d say that out loud, at least around Mitsuru. He’d probably lose his shit at him.

“Sooo on Saturday, how about we go to dad’s bar after a few drinks at the hideout, hm?” Sho asked, taking a deep inhale of his cigarette, which he was holding gracefully between two fingers. “You know you’re always welcome there, and that way, we can make sure little Hiro doesn’t dress up like a grape and cause a scene on some rich family’s doorstep.”

Hiroshi rolled his eyes, putting out the tiny remains of his own cigarette against the brick wall behind them.   
“Whatever! I ain’t puttin’ in any effort when ya pricks ain’t into it too!” he complained, clearly disappointed his scary fruit platter idea had ended up going nowhere. “I’m in goin’ to the bar though!”  
“Just make sure no dude hits on us, Zuki. I ain’t dealin’ with that shit,” Mitsuru commented, shifting a little uncomfortably. Ryuhei smirked to himself, making a mental note that he’d pay some obnoxious guy whatever change he had left to pull a pick-up line on Mitsuru. That’d be pretty damn hilarious.  
“Oh, not that your curls aren’t _irresistible_ , but if Kazuo-kun joins us, I doubt anyone will even look at you, honey. Don’t you worry,” Sho replied softly, giving Mitsuru’s cheek a little pat, before the other boy could squirm away.  
“Oi, cut it out! ‘N no one’s hittin’ on Boss either. Make sure everyone knows we’re all straight as fuck!”  
Sho rolled his eyes, mumbling something about how his outfit was sure to reveal that with no words necessary, though keeping a slightly amused smile on his lips.

Ryuhei wasn’t about to stop teasing Mitsuru, and joined in.  
“Don’t think even ya can keep a bunch of horny gays away from Boss, man,” he joked. “Keepin’ Zuki in line is already enough of a struggle.”  
Mitsuru was looking progressively more grumpy, nudging Ryuhei’s shoulder hard, before getting up to his feet.  
“Fuck all of ya. Even grape-boy. ‘N let’s go, class started like, five minutes ago.” He gave them a slight nod towards the direction of the main entrance.

That’s when it happened. Mitsuru’s back was turned to the corner they had to go around to get there, but the three others were now focusing on something behind him. Ryuhei couldn’t see the expression on the other’s faces, but he knew his own mouth was hanging open, his cigarette dropping to the ground in surprise.  
 _What… the… fuck….  
_ Mitsuru must have noticed how stunned they were, because he frowned, turning around hesitantly with a short: “What…?”  
  
Ryuhei could tell Mitsuru stiffened too, when he finally saw what the rest of them had reacted to. There was a figure standing just by the edge of the corner. The person was dressed in all black, including a black porcelain mask with two very narrow slits in it to allow some vision. It was impossible for Ryuhei to make out the person’s eyes though. They also had a hoodie pulled up, leaving them unrecognizable.  
All of that was not what left Ryuhei feeling the most uncomfortable. What really freaked him out, and caused him to jump to his feet and back up against the wall, was…

The large hunting knife in the person’s hand. 

_Fuck, we’re so fuckin’ fucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dundunduun.


	3. One down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izumi and Noriko goes looking for Satomi, Keita confronts Shinji about the mysterious notes, and Ryuhei and the gang gets chased by an unknown enemy.

After Language class ended, all the girls wanted to go look for Hayashida to see if Satomi was still with him. They decided it would be excessive if all five of them showed up though, and settled on Izumi and Noriko being the two to go. Yuka said she had plenty of stuff to plan for the upcoming party anyway, and “so little time” to do it, despite still being four days away. Yukie seemed hesitant to let Yuka freely plan out more details, probably scared by Yuka’s previous mention of creating a homemade Ouija board, and insisted on being part of the conversation. Haruka and Chisato seemed intrigued as to how Yukie would be able to stop Yuka’s new idea, so they were happy to stay behind too.

Izumi and Noriko first tried their homeroom to see if Hayashida and Satomi were still in there, but they were met with a locked door. They exchanged an uncertain glance.  
“This… Is never locked usually, is it?” Noriko asked needlessly. They both knew the answer.  
Izumi felt a shiver run down her spine. It was probably an overreaction; in fact, she knew it was. But she just had a bad feeling about this whole thing. She tried to peek through the small square window near the top of the door but couldn’t see anything. The lights were off, too.  
“It’s so strange…” she whispered, more so to herself than to Noriko. “Let’s try his office?”

The teacher’s offices were located on the second floor of the building, on the left side. Their biannual student-teacher conferences were always held in Hayashida’s office, and he always encouraged them to drop by if they ever needed to talk, so they knew well where it was.  
Izumi knocked softly, still feeling quite anxious. She noticed Noriko fidgeting with her hands, so she was probably feeling a lot of the same things Izumi was. Luckily, they could hear Hayashida’s gentle voice call out to them immediately.  
“Come on in!” he greeted cheerfully.

Seated behind is desk, Hayashida looked up from some papers and broke out into a big smile as he saw who had just entered.  
“Nakagawa-san, Kanai-san, welcome. Is everything okay?”  
The girls glanced briefly at each other, and Izumi wasn’t sure if she should speak first or if Noriko would lead the conversation. When Noriko didn’t immediately respond to the question either, she figured she should do it.  
“Yes, we’re fin-“ they both begin to speak at the same time, both clearly having waited for the other but then decided to go for it.  
Izumi bit her bottom lip, nodding to Noriko to encourage her to carry on.  
“We’re fine,” Noriko continued uncertainly, her eyes moving from Izumi to Hayashida. Their teacher were looking at them with a curious expression.  
“It’s just that… Well, Satomi didn’t show up to our last class, and we thought maybe she was still speaking to you,” Noriko explained quickly.

Hayashida frowned slightly.  
“She didn’t? That’s not like Noda-san at all,” he commented quietly, stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger.  
“No, it’s not,” Izumi was quick to agree. “How long did you two talk for, Sensei?”  
“No more than five minutes, at most,” Hayashida replied, still with the same curious expression on his face.  
Although it had been obvious from the moment they entered that Satomi was not with Hayashida at the current time, the knowledge that she had left him so soon still made Izumi’s chest tighten. There was no reason why she would still be gone.  
“I-I see…” she mumbled, her mind spinning.  
Hayashida easily picked up her anxiety, and his curious expression changed into a reassuring smile.  
“I’m sure it’s nothing, Kanai-san. Knowing Noda-san, she probably had some arrangement to help tutor another class or work on an independent project. She must have just forgotten to tell you about it, right?”  
Izumi nodded, though not convinced. She could tell by Noriko’s expression that she wasn’t, either.  
“Anyway… Thank you, Sensei,” Noriko said with a little bow. “We’re probably worried for nothing!”  
Izumi forced a smile too, giving him a similar bow before they excused themselves and left. They could feel Hayashida’s eyes on them until the moment the door closed behind them.

“This is seriously strange, isn’t it?” Izumi mused, walking back downstairs with Noriko. “I don’t think Satomi would forget to tell us if she was working on something else. Would she?”  
“No, I don’t think so either,” Noriko agreed, her dark eyes having an absent look to them. “Let’s find the others and talk to them about it. There’s still twenty minutes left of our break, so… - “  
“- So maybe Yuka can take her mind off making dead friends for long enough to find our living one?” Izumi suggested with a small laugh.  
  
They had to walk past their homeroom again to reach the cafeteria where the others were no doubt waiting by their usual table. Izumi glanced at the door, as if hoping she would catch a glimpse of Satomi this time. The lights were still off and no one seemed to be around, but something else caught her eye. Stopping, Izumi stared at the door, her eyes widening. Written on it was a short sentence, the words bright red and some of the letters smudged out a little. But it wasn’t so much how it was written that freaked her out; the message itself made it feel like her heart had dropped to the floor.

Noriko didn’t notice her friend stopping at first. It wasn’t until she heard Izumi let out a loud scream, she quickly spun around.

* * *

Keita’s mind was very slowly trying to work out why Shinji was the one waiting for him by the school entrance. Didn’t Shinji say he was going to meet a girl or something? Oh shit, what if Keita _was_ the “girl”, and this was all a big plan to ask him out in a unorthodox yet strangely romantic way? That would be classic Shinji.  
_What would I even wear on a date with Shinji? Damn, I’m nervous now!_

“Did you want something?” Shinji asked, looking more bored than anything else. He was leaning against the wall with his arms still casually crossed. Man, he looked so cool.  
Keita sent him a confused look.  
“Do I want something? Dude, you’re the one who asked me to meet you here!” he reminded him, digging through his pockets to find the evidence. Both of the notes he had gotten were still scrunched up in there, as well as an old lollipop. It was unwrapped and had stuck to one of the notes, but Keita managed to free it without leaving too much of the paper still attached to it.  
_Score!  
  
_Very satisfied with this bonus find, Keita stuck the lollipop in his mouth, while sorting out the notes for Shinji to see.  
“Look!” he said, shoving them into Shinji’s hand. Shinji’s neutral expression had changed to a slightly disgusted one when seeing Keita suck on this already half-eaten lollipop, but he still looked down on the small pieces of paper now in his hands.  
“They’re from you, right?!” Keita continued, not really seeing any other explanation at the moment. Why else would Shinji wait right here?

“ _I know what you did. Confess_ ,” Shinji read the first note out loud, before handing both of them back to Keita. He paused for a moment, then shrugged. “What makes you think I wrote this?”  
“Duuh! The other one says to meet this guy by the entrance, right? You’re the only one here!” Keita said, as if that wasn’t obvious enough.  
“Guess I am,” Shinji had to agree. Everyone else nearby seemed to only be passing by. None of them seemed too interested in Keita or looked like they wanted to fight him, at least. “Okay. I’ll bite. Let’s say I wrote these. What’d I want you to confess?”

Shinji looked at him with slight interest now. The problem was, Keita had no idea what he had ever done to wrong Shinji. He’d been nothing but a great friend. He even let him beat him at video games sometimes to protect his fragile ego. Wait, maybe that was it. Maybe Shinji knew Keita was just pretending to suck to make him feel better? That must be it.  
“I think I know,” Keita said with a deep sigh. He lowered his head, as if gathering to strength to carry on.  
Shinji raised a brow, waiting patiently. “Yeah?”  
“It’s about… the video game, isn’t it?” Keita sighed again, raising his eyes to meet Shinji’s.

Shinji looked confused for a moment, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his sides.  
“The what?” he asked, his tone a little colder than usual.  
“How I… I let you win not to hurt your feelings. Man, I’m sorry, I can’t help it! You look so sad when you lose and stuff! I just can’t stand to see you hurt!” Keita exclaimed dramatically, putting his hands on Shinji’s shoulders and shaking him lightly. “I never meant to betray you like this!”  
Shinji shook him off easily, a stunned expression on his face.  
_Yeah… It’s probably a lot to take in…_  
“Still best bros?” Keita asked, his eyes watering. Just then, a girl walked up to them, ruining a potential beautiful moment.  
  
“Mimura-kun? Is this a bad time?” she asked shyly, her cheeks bright pink. Keita thought she was cute enough, but not as cute as him. He wasn’t sure what Shinji saw in her.  
“No. No, it’s the perfect time,” Shinji quickly told her, moving away from Keita. “Let’s go talk outside.”  
The girl squealed happily, as Keita huffed to himself. Before leaving, Shinji turned to look at him one last time.  
“I didn’t write those notes, Iijima,” he said with finality. “Good luck.”

Keita was left as confused as ever. So whoever had written it had just decided not to meet him after all? He decided to look for Yutaka and Yoshitoki, as they must be out of the line by now. He couldn’t see them at all in the cafeteria though, and began walking towards their classroom.  
The hallways seemed to weirdly quiet today. His mind could just be playing tricks on him though. Was it always like this?

A noise coming from his right startled him slightly. He turned to face it, only to realize he was standing near the janitor’s closet. It had almost sounded like the noise came from inside; like someone had knocked something over.  
Shrugging, he figured maybe it was rats or something. Or someone hiding to take a nap. He had done that before.  
He didn’t notice the door slowly cracking open as he passed it. A pair of pale hands stretched out, and one covered his mouth while the other tugged him inside in one swift movement.  
Keita let out a stifled yelp, but the door closed before anyone had a chance to see or hear him.  
“Got you now,” a satisfied voice whispered near his ear.

* * *

Ryuhei watched the masked figure cautiously. When he started taking a couple of slow steps forwards, he could feel the need to run away increase. Sure, they had been in plenty of fights, and usually against more than just one opponent. But something about this guy’s whole appearance, not to mention the large hunting knife in his right hand, made him seem much creepier than anyone else they had faced.

Mitsuru had started backtracking too, his eyes not leaving the approaching figure.  
“’Kay, look… Just fuck off, ‘kay? There’s four of us ‘n one of ya, so… Why don’t ya just fuckin’ leave ‘n ya won’t get hurt, huh?” he said, his voice surprisingly sturdy, but Ryuhei knew he was probably close to pissing himself too.  
The masked guy didn’t reply; instead, he took a couple of more steps in their direction.  
“I am _not_ dealing with this with my fresh nails,” Sho whispered. His heavy breathing revealed he was nervous too, despite attempting to joke it off.  
“What’d we do?” Hiroshi whispered too, turning to Ryuhei. “I don’t got a weapon on me or anythin’.”  
“Me neither,” Ryuhei muttered. “I think we just gotta… -“  
  
“Guys!” Mitsuru called out to them, still not looking away from the guy. “If he tries any shit, we can overpower him. We just need to kick him down without bein’ sliced, ‘n if we grab his arm we –“  
“- Nah, fuck it. Run!” Ryuhei cried out, grabbing onto Sho’s sleeve and pulling him with him to make a dash for it around the opposite corner of where the masked guy had came from.  
Hiroshi was quick to follow, not about to face this guy alone with Mitsuru.  
They could hear Mitsuru yell out “For fuck’s sake!” behind him, but judging by the sound of footsteps, he had started to run too.

“Do we run inside?!” Hiroshi yelled, and Ryuhei was glad someone asked, because he was about to run in a continuous circle until given a proper direction.  
“What, bringing some psycho into the school? If this is some Yakuza-fucker we’re gonna be in deep shit when we’re all caught!” Mitsuru responded, catching up to the three others. None of them were about to look back and see if the masked guy had picked up the pace or not too.  
  
“Then what, man? We ain’t gonna lose him just running to the field or somethin’! We gotta hide or find people or some shit!” Ryuhei argued, already panting. His stamina was awful compared to his physical strength, and years of smoking hadn’t exactly helped that either.  
“How about the gym? No class is there this early, and we can try locking the doors from the inside. Plenty of toilets to hide in too, as gross as that is,” Sho suggested. The heaviest smoker out of all of them, he was also quickly losing his breath.  
  
They all seemed to agree this was a good enough plan as any, because without having to say anything, they all started running towards the gym building near the football field. Ryuhei just hoped it was unlocked right now, even if it wasn’t being used. He took a second to glance over his shoulder, and felt like screaming when he realized the masked figure was now coming towards them at a light jogging pace. He wasn’t matching their speed at all, but the way he so casually came running made it seem like he had all the time in the world to chase them down.  
_Who the fuck is this freak?!_

Mitsuru reached the gym first, and tore the door open. He waited for everyone to run inside before shutting it behind them.  
“Shit, this don’t have a lock or anythin’,” he swore, hitting the door as if punishing it for this fact.  
“Locker rooms, then,” Sho said in a hushed voice, leading the way towards the girl’s locker rooms.  
“Ew, no, why the chick’s one?” Hiroshi asked, scrunching his nose childishly.  
Mitsuru frowned too, throwing a glance towards the main door, waiting for the masked guy to catch up to them.  
“Yeah, Zuki, what if someone’s in there or some shit,” he mumbled, clearly uncomfortable at the idea.  
Sho sighed. “If the locker room door doesn’t close, there’s a bigger chance of individual toilet cubicles we can lock ourselves in. Come on, t _hink,_ honey.”  
“Let’s just fuckin’ go _anywhere_ ,” Ryuhei groaned, entering the room hastily. He didn’t wanna waste any time debating this and risking dying right there in a smelly gym.

The locker room was empty, as expected. Mitsuru checked the door again, running into the same problem.  
“Why do none of these have fuckin’ locks?! It’s like invitin’ everyone to creep or somethin’,” he complained, growing more frustrated.  
“Probably a safety thing,” Sho mused, opening one of the three cubicles near the shower room.  
“That’s fuckin’ ironic,” Ryuhei grumbled, not feeling very safe by the unlocked door right now. “Zuki, wanna share a toilet?”  
“Oh, hon, I’d love too,” Zuki winked to him, inviting him inside.

“This ain’t a joke, y’know,” Mitsuru mumbled, sounding annoyed as he entered the cubicle next to them.  
“Wait, I don’t wanna be alone!” Hiroshi whined, squeezing his way into Mitsuru’s cubicle, leaving the one on the far right unoccupied.  
Ryuhei was crouching down onto the toilet seat, holding his breath. He stayed alert for every noise outside, and by the sound of the pressing silence among them, the others were doing the same.  
He closed his eyes shut when he heard slow footsteps approach from down the hall.

The sound of the door handle to the locker room being pulled down seemed so overpowering due to how quiet it had been before, and the footsteps, though actually insanely light, suddenly sounded heavy and pounding against the floor.   
The figure was probably quickly scanning the room, quickly determining it was empty, before approaching the toilets.  
_If he starts smashin’ down these doors with his knife, we’re gonna be fucked. They ain’t that fuckin’ sturdy…_

His heart hammering against his chest, Ryuhei was preparing for the worst. Maybe Sho would take the fall for him and take the knife first, leaving him a chance to escape. Though he doubted it, as Sho had pressed himself against the wall in such a way that when the door swung open, he would be hidden behind it, leaving Ryuhei open for an attack.  
He was almost wishing it would just be over with; this anticipation was the worst.

“Are you scared?” a quiet voice asked from right outside the door. A very recognizable voice.  
“B-Boss?” Ryuhei heard Mitsuru exclaim next to him. It was unmistakably the soft voice belonging to Kazuo Kiriyama. Ryuhei was so confused; was he trying to kill them, or what was happening?  
To his horror, he heard the door next to them unlock, meaning Mitsuru and Hiroshi were exiting their safe place. Even worse, Sho was now unlocking their door too, leaving them exposed.  
  


As the door opened, they saw Kazuo just removing his mask, his emotionless face looking back at them.  
“Boss, what the fuck?!” Hiroshi asked, a hand clutching onto his chest. “Ya scared the shit outta us!”  
“Yeah, what the fuck was that ‘bout?!” Ryuhei demanded to know. “Why’d ya do that?!”

Kazuo still looked at them blankly, his eyes scanning them all individually.  
“It’s Halloween,” he finally stated, as if this explained anything.  
“It ain’t even Halloween yet! It’s not until Saturday!” Hiroshi whined, though he seemed to calm himself down. Next to him, Mitsuru forced out a chuckle.  
“Ya… Ya really got us, y’know,” he said, his voice trembling slightly. “We were really damn scared.”  
“I did some research,” Kazuo explained, despite no one asking. “It turned out what most people fear, is dying. I thought if I were to make you think you were going to die, it would effectively scare you, and get you in what Hiroshi refers to as the “Halloween spirit”. Some people online also mentioned being scared of humans dressed up as cuddly animals. I thought the dying thing would prove more efficient.”  
“Yeah, fuckin’ thanks. Next time, go for the damn cuddly animal, huh?!” Ryuhei grumbled, his heart rate finally starting to slow down again.

On their way back to the school building, Kazuo ditched the knife, mask, and hoodie in a random trash can. Sho pointed out this might be suspicious if someone found it, but Kazuo didn’t seem to care much.  
Ryuhei was still feeling a little betrayed by the whole thing. He hated that he had felt so vulnerable and useless. Nudging Mitsuru, he caught the other boy’s attention.  
“Are we really not gonna talk ‘bout this more? This was fuckin’ crazy, wasn’t it?” he whispered, hoping the others didn’t hear him.  
Mitsuru frowned. “C’mon, Ryu. It was just a joke. Boss just likes to mess with us, like, y’know, playfully. He’d obviously never hurt us for real!” he insisted.

They had made it to the main building now, walking towards their homeroom at a slow pace. Ryuhei didn’t think he could ever run again.  
“Guess you’re right ‘bout that…” he said quietly, knowing he didn’t sound too convinced. “It was just so fuckin’-“  
The sound of a girl’s scream coming from up ahead interrupted him, and caused him to jump slightly.  
Obviously it had caught the other’s attention too, and Mitsuru’s eyes widened.  
“That’s…” he said, not finishing his sentence before he ran ahead in the direction of the scream.  
“Oi, why are we runnin’ _towards_ the screamin’?! I’m done with this horror shit!” Ryuhei complained, but followed anyway, though not bothering to run.

The rest of them caught up to Mitsuru quick enough, and saw him standing next to Izumi, who had been the one letting out the scream, and Noriko, who was standing next to her with a worried expression on her face.  
The two girls and Mitsuru were all looking at something on the door to their homeroom.  
As he got closer, Ryuhei could make out what was written on it too, with what looked suspiciously like… Blood?  
Squinting, Ryuhei read the writing out loud to himself, not really understanding the meaning:  
  
“ _41 students remaining_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't mean for the KF's part to end up twice as long as the other's, but there you go. Also I'm having a lot of fun writing this even if it's a mess, and I think it will probably be finished a day or two after Halloween.


	4. One mystery solved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izumi is no closer to finding Satomi, but Keita does finally find out who has been reaching out to him.

Izumi had stifled her scream almost immediately; feeling a bit stupid for jumping like that, she cupped her mouth with both hands, just staring at the bloody writing on the door.  
_41 students remaining_ … She hated the thought that this could be related to Satomi being gone for a couple of hours, but surely it was too much of a coincident not to be?

Noriko must have had the same idea, because her already pale face had turned a few shades whiter.  
“T-This…. This is getting too weird. We should go back to Hayashida-sensei…” she muttered, her eyes glued to the writing as well, as she made no effort to actually move.  
Izumi nodded absent-mindedly, not really taking in what Noriko was saying. She was busy trying to comprehend what this message was ominously trying to convey.

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching made her momentarily turn away from the door, and she felt her heart start beating faster again as she realized it was Mitsuru who came running from behind the corner.  
“Kanai! What happened?” Mitsuru asked as he closed the distance between them, until finally stopping by her side. His brows were furrowed with concern as he studied her face intensely. Too intensely for Izumi to manage to meet his eyes without feeling her face heat up.

 _Oh, so he must have heard my scream… Wonderful._  
She wasn’t sure if it was silly to be embarrassed right now or not, considering the current situation and how confused she was about everything. She averted her eyes, bringing them back to the homeroom door.  
“Look,” she said, her voice trembling. She raised her finger to point at the writing, as if it wasn’t obvious enough for Mitsuru what she was referring to. “It…. Scared me.”  
Without knowing the full story behind it, he probably thought it sounded silly to scream over something like that. But if he did, he hid it well, because Mitsuru studied the writing with the same baffled concern that she was sure was written all over her own face too.

The rest of his group eventually joined up with them too, and Ryuhei read the writing out loud.  
“ _41 students remaining_ …” he paused, before letting out a short huff. “The fuck is this? More of Boss’ _hilarious_ pranks?”  
Izumi couldn’t imagine Kazuo as the prankster of their group, so this remark surprised her. She looked at the group inquisitively. Hopefully Ryuhei was right, and it was just a prank, even though she doubted the gang leader was the one behind it.  
Kazuo simply shook his head. “I did not write that,” he stated blankly.  
  
“Yeah, not like ‘ny of us could be behind this shit, we were busy almost bein’ killed!” Hiroshi cried dramatically, earning himself a comforting pet on the head from Sho.  
“There, there. Let’s just consider it our weekly exercise,” he teased, pinching Hiroshi’s cheek for good measure.  
Izumi’s eyes darted back to Mitsuru, her mouth falling open.  
“Wait… You were almost _what_?!” she asked in horror. She didn’t have any problem imagining the Kiriyama Family almost dying from time to time, as much as the idea scared her, but she wasn’t prepared for it being so casually mentioned.

Mitsuru ran a hand through his curls, looking embarrassed.  
“Nah… Hiroshi’s bein’ dramatic. Boss just pranked us, is all,” he mumbled, glaring at his friends as if telling them to pipe down. “It wasn’t any real danger.”  
Izumi noticed that not everyone in the group looked too convinced; particularly Ryuhei, who let out another low huff.  
“Oh… That’s a relief,” she said, not sure she could handle any more worries at the moment. “Uhm, we do have a real problem though. I mean… This scary text, and… Satomi! Satomi is missing. She’s been missing for _hours_.”  
Izumi hoped she managed to express the urgency of this, but most of the gang didn’t look like they got it.  
“Maybe she got bored ‘n went home?” Ryuhei suggested with a shrug.  
“Or maybe she’s havin’ a huge shit or somethin’?” Hiroshi very unnecessarily chimed in.

Izumi automatically scrunched her nose in disgust, noticing from the corner of her eye that Mitsuru looked about ready to slap someone.  
“No, not… Not Satomi. She wouldn’t just leave and… If she felt ill, she would have told us,” Noriko reasoned before Izumi got a chance to.  
“I think we should speak to Hayashida-sensei again, like you said,” Izumi told Noriko, glancing at Mitsuru too.  
Mitsuru seemed to get the hint, because he nodded.  
“We’ll go with ya. If somethin’ is actually goin’ on ‘round here, ya shouldn’t walk ‘round alone.”

“I don’t remember agreein’ to this,” Ryuhei whispered to Sho, as they began following Mitsuru and the two girls in the direction of their teacher’s office. “Why are we suddenly like, personal bodyguards?!”  
“Especially considering all of you seem more likely to run and hide should there be an actual attack, judging by my research,” Kazuo added expressionlessly.  
“Oi! Its different when we know an attack could be comin’, ‘kay?!” Ryuhei was quick to argue, waving his arms in an exaggerated manner. “We’d be ready for it next time!”  
“We’ll see,” Kazuo responded, which didn’t feel very reassuring.

“Maan… This area gives me like heavy PSTD or whatever,” Hiroshi muttered as they approached Hayashida’s office. “I’m always called here whenever the fire alarm goes off or some shit!”  
Sho gave their smallest member a soft smile. “How endearing. You almost got those letters all right!”  
Ryuhei placed his hands in his pockets, leaning against the opposite wall as Izumi softly gave the office door a couple of knocks. No one answered, and judging by how the lights were off, no one were there.

“He must have gone to towards our classroom… “ Izumi reasoned, lowering her hand. “We probably just missed him.”  
Mitsuru gave the handle a try, but naturally found the door to be closed. He looked down at Izumi, raising a brow slightly.  
“Should I bust it open?” he asked somewhat innocently, earning himself a shocked “no!” from both Izumi and Noriko, accompanied by them passionately waving their hands in front of their faces.  
“No, that’s unnecessary! Poor Hayashida-sensei doesn’t deserve that,” Noriko added, letting out a sigh of relief as Mitsuru let go off the handle.  
“Hey, was just an idea,” Mitsuru shrugged. “Thought maybe we’d find some clues or somethin’ in there.”  
“It was a good idea,” Izumi insisted quickly, not wanting him to feel bad about it. “It would just feel… Wrong to break in there. Even for a good cause.”  
  


They turned around and started heading back, hoping maybe Satomi really had just been preoccupied with something else, and that she would show up to their next class which was being held in the very homeroom they had just left. Izumi convinced herself it must be a bad joke, and that Satomi had decided to take part of it because… She was secretly funnier than Izumi expected?  
  
Quite a few people were gathered outside their homeroom now, and Izumi figured they must all be trying to work out what the message on the door really meant. She noticed the rest of their friends were all there, as well as Shuya’s group, the jocks, and some of the other girls, including Yumiko and Yukiko.  
Izumi and Noriko rejoined their friends, and Chisato was quick to ask them about Satomi.  
“Did you find her?” she asked quietly. They both shook their head at her in response.  
“This is weird. The door is locked and class is starting in about two minutes. Dragonfly is usually always early,” Haruka said, tapping her chin with her index finger.  
Yukie nodded in agreement. “Peculiar! I’m sure he didn’t change the room or anything. Why would he?”  
  
Izumi noticed none of them had mentioned the weird message, which she would have assumed was the first thing they would comment on.  
Everyone was standing in a small half circle around the door, but the neutral girls were gathered directly behind Shuya’s group. Standing up on her toes, Izumi peaked over Yoshitoki’s shoulder, and finally realized why the message hadn’t been mentioned.  
  
It was because it was gone.  
The writing had been completely wiped off the door, leaving it looking as innocent as it always did.  
That meant someone would have ran to get rid of it in those ten minutes or less that it had taken them to go to Hayashida’s office and back.  
Izumi hardly had time to think about why or when that happened, when everyone seemed to jump back at the same time, startled.

The cause of their sudden scare was the surprisingly loud noise of the door being unlocked from the inside. Holding her breath, Izumi watched as the door handle was pressed downwards, the door itself slowly opening.

* * *

Keita’s initial reaction when he was pulled into the janitor’s closet by the unknown person was fear. Of course, why wouldn’t he be afraid; first the notes and now this, basically a kidnapping?  
However, the fear turned into almost a kind of weird curiosity as he recognized something about the voice. The voice was _female_.  
Which meant, it was a girl who was clearly desperate to be alone with him.  
_Oh, heck yeah! Someone just couldn’t keep their hands off the Kei-Kei man any longer, huh?_  
His brain’s way of reasoning this might be a strange way of survival instinct to keep him from panicking, but of course, Keita didn’t realize this.

An arm was still holding firmly onto his upper body, but the hand covering his mouth was warily removed.  
“Don’t scream,” the voice warned him. “My mission is just to warn you. Nobody has to get hurt.”  
Mission? Okay, weird, Keita thought. Still, he grinned, playing along.  
“Oh yeah, I won’t scream unless you tell me to,” he joked cockily, bringing out what he referred to as his Shinji-moves. They would work one day. Maybe today. “Will I get to turn around and see you though? Not that this isn’t mysterious and hot. I’m kinda hoping it’s Nakagawa?”  
  
The girl laughed shortly, now letting go of his torso as well.  
“So wrong,” she smacked her lips. “Can’t you tell by my notes?”  
“Yeah, what was that, some kinda riddle? Like if I guess who you are, we’re going out?” Keita continued thoughtfully. Now he had to think back to who he had something to confess to… That had been hard enough already when he had specific candidates in mind, but now, he had really no clue. “I’m drawing a blank here, secret admirer, not gonna lie…”

The girl sighed, spinning Keita around so that he was facing her. The closet was dark, but he could just about make out her features. It was definitely not someone he had expected to see.  
“Huh… Inada?!” Keita exclaimed, in genuine surprise. “You’re my admirer?!”  
Mizuho was close enough that he could tell she was rolling her eyes at him, a sly smile on her lips.  
“No, no way, not at all,” she denied.  
That didn’t make sense.  
“You just said you wrote that note –“ Keita was about to argue, but she was quick to interrupt him.  
“- Yeah, I did, as a threat! To get you to confess!” Mizuho looked at him as if she couldn’t understand how the message “ _I know what you did. Confess_ ” could be so confusing.  
  
“Wait, but I went to meet you by the entrance, and you weren’t there?” Keita asked, confused. He still had no idea what he had supposedly done to wrong her, but at least he had tried to go and find out.  
“I was. I was outside by the entrance. I saw you talk to your comrade Mimura on the _inside_ , so I went around the building, in the back entrance, and hid here to scare you when you walked by later. It was lucky you came alone. Lucky for me, unlucky for you, fallen warrior.”  
Keita ignored her odd way of expressing herself, staring at her as he tried to get his brain to work.  
“’Kay, but, seriously… Inada, I have no clue what you’re on about! Confess _what_?”  
  
Mizuho’s deep stare was beginning to make him uncomfortable, and he became desperate to think of something that could be relevant.  
“Is this about when Utsumi’ skirt was blown up by the wind? Because I wasn’t looking! I was… studying it because I’m trying to invent wind-proof skirts, so that… -“  
“- Okay, okay. Iijima, maybe you are just a fool,” Mizuho interrupted him again, having heard enough. “Do you remember Monday?”  
“Yeah, it was a good day. They sold old sandwiches in the cafeteria for half price,” Keita nodded.  
Mizuho closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “And Tuesday?”  
“Not as memorable,” Keita quickly said. “Everything was full price.”  
  
Mizuho crossed her arms, still staring at him with those haunting eyes. Keita thought she looked a bit like she was in a trance. He wondered if he should make a run for it before he was killed for real.  
“On Monday, you pulled a really mean prank on Megumi. And yesterday, on Kaori. I could tell it was you, because you laughed the loudest. And then said “Good job, me”. As a warrior princess, I have an eye for mysteries like these,” she reasoned. Keita clicked his tongue. Damn, she was good.  
“Obviously I suspected I would be your next victim, being the last one left in our group. And even if you wouldn’t dare to challenge me, you still hurt my friends. I couldn’t let that go unpunished. You understand, don’t you?”

Her low tone made it clear Mizuho was pretty serious about it, so Keita nodded along, feeling the for the doorknob behind him with one hand.  
“Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that, Inada. Y’know, it really was totally random. It could’ve been anyone! Your friends just got unlucky,” he said truthfully. How was he supposed to know who walked through the door next to get water-bucketed? He wasn’t psychic!  
Mizuho must have noticed how he was searching for the doorknob, because she uncrossed her arms.  
“Are you trying to escape, Iijima?” she quietly asked. “Because I have to warn you; crossing me any further will be a bad idea.”  
  
Keita’s eyes widened as Mizuho picked something up from the floor, closing the gap between them.  
“I don’t think you’ve really learnt your lesson yet, you see,” she said with determination as she raised both hands.

Keita had to quickly admit to himself; he was no match for a warrior like her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Mizuho has a point.


	5. Mystery solved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, the mystery is solved.

The door handle was pressed down so slowly, Izumi had plenty of time to feel suspense raise within her as she waited for the door to swing open. But it didn’t; instead, it was left open just a crack, the darkness of the room revealed to them every so slightly.   
No one moved for a second, as it seemed clear they all waited for someone to either emerge from the room, or for someone else to make the first move to enter.

The group waiting in the hall kept growing as more classmates showed up, and quiet murmurs spread amongst them.  
“Why is no one going in?”  
“Helloo, someone move!”  
“Sweet, can we just go home?”  
Izumi glanced at her friends, where Yukie finally cleared her throat.   
“This is silly,” she declared quietly to herself. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”  
Izumi thought she wanted to convince herself more so than anyone else, but she still appreciated hearing it too. Of course nothing scary would happen. Their school was a safe place, right?

“Can’t wait out here all day, can we? Not gonna get anymore weird,” Shuya commented jokingly, and thus becoming the first one to really speak up. He took a few steps forwards, grabbing onto the door handle.   
“Hiroki, get behind me and be ready with some of your sweet moves in case of an attack?” he winked to his friend, who blushed in return.  
“Sure, yeah,” Hiroki replied awkwardly, looking uncomfortable as someone chuckled at Shuya’s remark.   
“I’ll be back up too, if that’s any comforting,” Yutaka joined in joking, trying to ease the tension slightly. “I’d like to see a ghost try it!”

Izumi and her friends all laughed a little at the boy’s comments, although she could hear her own laughter being a little forced. As much as she tried to reassure herself, she was not sure what she expected to be on the other side of the door. Shuya wasted no more time opening it, and took a couple of steps inside. His friends followed up, but all of them came to a halt once they had entered the dark room.  
“Huh, what’s this?” Yoshitoki asked, turning his head to gaze around. Izumi had some trouble seeing what they reacted to, as they were blocking most of her view.   
“What is it?” she whispered to Haruka, hoping her taller friend could give some input.

“Someone’s there,” Shinji observed. Judging by his position, Izumi thought he might be looking towards Hayashida’s desk at the front of the room. “Hiding.”  
Mitsuru stepped forwards too now, frowning. “We can go on ahead and take care of whoever that is,” he said with a small nod to the rest of his group. “That won’t take long.”  
“I think we’re good,” Shinji replied in return. “We got Yutaka, after all. And I guess Hiroki could be useful, too.”  
  


 _Was someone really there or not_? Izumi wondered. She thought Shinji sounded very casual about it, but that could just be his manner of talking. The girls followed Shuya and Mitsuru’s groups inside, and other classmates started joining in as well. The first thing Izumi noticed, was the decorations. Banners made out of pumpkins and ghosts were decorating the windows and blackboard, there were cobwebs in the corners, spiders stuck to the wall, and a big skeleton that she recognized from their science room seated in Hayashida’s chair. She also noticed the big plastic pumpkin basket on the desk, filled with different kinds of wrapped candy.

“This is the opposite of scary. This is amazing,” Yuka exclaimed, her previously confused expression now turning into a huge smile. Several of the others also seemed to relax, but Izumi noticed what Shinji had commented on before: a couple of people seemed to be crouching down behind the desk, barely visible thanks to their low position.

“We see you, whoever you are. Time to come out now,” Yukie called out cheerfully, having noticed the same thing.   
“Oh, no. I didn’t even have time to yell out “surprise”, like I rehearsed.”   
Izumi immediately recognized Hayashida’s voice and let out a sigh of relief. Their teacher got to his feet, giving them all his usual bright smile.   
“It’s alright, Hayashida-sensei. You can say it now, anyway,” Noriko offered, smiling back at him.  
“Oh. Then, surprise!” Hayashida laughed, spreading his arms enthusiastically as if to gesture to all the effort he had put into decorating the room. He glanced down for a moment. “You have to come out, too,” he told whoever was still hidden behind the desk.

Izumi’s relief grew as she saw Satomi stand up, her face revealing very different emotions to those of Hayashida; she was looking like this was the last place she wanted to be, which Izumi thought could be due to her wearing a bright orange pumpkin hat which undoubtedly was something Hayashida had picked up from somewhere (the hat was ironically enough smiling cheerfully), and a bright orange vest that was usually reserved for when they were split into different teams in gym class. It was probably to complete her pumpkin look, but all Izumi could think of was how much those usually reeked of sweat.  
 _I think I’d look pretty miserable too…_

“Surprise,” Satomi said unenthusiastically, making her friends burst out into laughter.  
“Wow, I’m glad I decided against coming as a giant pumpkin today! How embarrassing if we wore the same thing!” Yuka laughed, making Satomi’s expression only sour further. “Seriously, I’d like to buy that hat off you.”  
“I’ll pay you to take it,” Satomi mumbled, glaring at Hayashida, who was only laughing too.  
“I hope it’s okay we’re turning this class into a little Halloween party instead. As I am sure you’re aware, I won’t be having a class with you for the rest of the week, so it was now or never,” Hayashida explained, as the students all made it to their seats. Hayashida picked up the pumpkin basket and began walking towards them. Satomi took this chance to tear her hat off and run to her seat.  
  
As Hayashida began handing candy out to everyone, he started off with the first rows near the front. Izumi pouted slightly, before deciding she had to speak up, albeit quietly so.  
“Sensei, that was mean… You really scared us. We thought something had really happened to Satomi,” she pointed out. Noriko was quick to agree.  
“Yes, we were running around trying to find her!”  
“How did you convince Satomi to help plan this anyway?” Haruka chimed in, grinning.   
Hayashida gave Izumi and Noriko an apologetic smile, before replying to Haruka first.  
“Well, Noda-san had already handed in her analysis for the previous class, so I arranged with Konno-sensei that she could be allowed to help me prepare this instead. It was really just a favour to me, and it worked out since she had already completed your current project there. We made all the arrangements yesterday, didn’t we?”  
  
“Ah… So that is why you were so odd during History class too,” Izumi said slowly, finally beginning to understand everything. “You were just dreading having to do this.”  
“Especially after he told me he got me a costume, yes,” Satomi confirmed, glancing unhappily down at her sweaty vest. “I guess it could have been worse.”  
“You guess? This is sweet!” Yuka exclaimed. She seemed to have magically stolen the hat at some point, and Izumi couldn’t understand when, because she had been seated next to her that whole time. Either way, Yuka was now wearing it proudly, playing with the fabric stem on the top.  
  
“That message on the door was unnecessary though, Sensei,” Izumi continued, with a small pout. “You already knew Noriko and I were worried then! How did you even have time to write it, or did Satomi do it?”  
Hayashida and Satomi exchanged a glance. Now, his smile had turned into a small frown too.  
“No…” he began, shaking his head. “No, I felt very bad that you and Nakagawa-san were so concerned for Noda-san. That’s why I tried to reassure you that she was fine, too. As far as I know… Neither of us wrote that message.”  
“Yes, I certainly didn’t,” Satomi confirmed.

Izumi was back to being confused now, blinking.  
“Then… -“  
“- Who wrote that?” Noriko finished the question for her, her brows furrowed in thought.  
“Oh! My ketchup message on the wall?” someone spoke up from their right, while chewing on a piece of candy she had received at the start of Hayashida’s round. “Yeah, that was me!”   
Her confusion now raising, Izumi followed the sound of the voice.  
“… Inada?”  
Yuka was trying to ask details about this message, which obviously she and the other girls with the exception of Noriko hadn’t been around to see, but Izumi paid no attention right now. She needed more information.  
“Why did you write that, Inada? To scare us too?”

Mizuho shook her head, and swallowed her candy. Megumi and Kaori were looking at her with puzzled, almost slightly concerned, expressions too.  
“No, I didn’t know you guys were gonna be the ones to find it! It was more to just let everyone know that Iijima has been destroyed.”  
 _Oh… Wait, destroyed?_ Izumi’s eyes widened, before they automatically glanced over to Keita’s friends. She hoped maybe they would express some concern, but all she heard was laughter, and she was pretty sure she saw Shinji mouth the word “nice”.  
  


“I feel a moral obligation to ask you what you mean by that,” Hayashida said, though with a small smile too. Apparently no one but Izumi felt any real concern that Mizuho could have thrown Keita out of an airlock or something.   
“He kept pranking my friends, so I tied him up in the janitor’s closet. He’s fine, I left him a bowl of water,” Mizuho explained shortly.   
“Hayashida-sensei, please give Inada my share of the candy,” Shinji spoke up louder now. The other boys in his group laughed at his joke, even though he sounded pretty serious to Izumi.  
“Yeah, good job, Inada. Give her mine too!” Shuya agreed. Yoshitoki, Yutaka, and Hiroki were quick to agree.   
“Just give her the whole basket,” Yutaka joked.  
“Oi, speak for yourself. Toss some this way, sensei!” Hiroshi commented from the back of the classroom, raising his hands as if ready to catch some of the pieces.

The classroom filled with laugher and voices as more candy was handed out, and Izumi opened her own small chocolate.  
“See, Izu. Halloween is fun, isn’t it?” Yuka asked her, the pumpkin smiling down to her.  
“I suppose once you get past all the psychological terror, yes,” Izumi replied with a short laugh. “Please, Yuka. Don’t do anything too crazy on Saturday, then. Today was bad enough!”  
“Weeeell…” Yuka dragged the words out. “I can promise not to plan anything _more_ …”  
That might be the best she could hope for. As long as there was plenty of candy at the end, Izumi thought it would probably be worth it.

* * *

"Uhm, guys? Helloooo?" Keita was calling from inside the dark janitor closet. He felt like he had been in there for _days_ , especially considering how he was starving. In reality, it was probably no more than ten minutes. But oh man, he wanted one of those discount sandwiches right about now. "Can you hear me?!"  
The light suddenly turned on, and Keita felt instant relief. He wiggled his tied up body around, in order to see who had come to his rescue.  
"Yes, hey, thanks, can you just..." his words died out quickly, as he realized no one had joined him. The door was still as closed as ever, and now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard it open in the first place. "Uhmm... Hey?"  
He glanced around the room, wondering if someone could have vented in and back out or something. Deciding there was no way, his eyes turned back to the door and light switch. Before he could even begin to figure out what was happening, the light was turned back off, leaving him alone in the darkness.  
 _Of course this school would be haunted! And I didn't even bring an Ouija board?! Embarrassing... Oh well, all I can do is scream.  
_ And so Keita did, hoping the ghosts would show him mercy.

In the electrical room next door, a very amused Shinji who had excused himself for a bathroom break, had instead found the fuse connecting to the lights in the janitor's closet. As Halloweens went, this was by far his favourite. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! Sorry this is almost a week late but there we go.


End file.
